Arts

Hunger is theme of student art exhibit

Four of the works of art inspired by the Holodomor created by students in the Ukraine that will be featured with works by Kalamazoo Public Schools students in a joint June 1 Art Hop exhibit.

Hunger in the Kalamazoo community and other parts of the world will be the theme of a student exhibit at the Kalamazoo Public Library planned in connection with the Bach Festival’s “Feast or Famine” concert.

The exhibit will feature artwork by Kalamazoo Public Schools students and Ukrainian students.

The students from Konotop, Ukraine, were inspired by their education about the 1930s Soviet-induced famine in Ukraine known as the Holodomor, which is also the subject of a requiem in the “Feast or Famine” concert. The Ukrainian artwork is on loan from the private collection of Nicholas Kotcherha, president of the Ukrainian Genocide Famine Foundation-USA Inc., according to Kalamazoo Philharmonia conductor Andrew Koehler.

Beth McCann, deputy director of the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo, said she was very moved by seeing the work of the Ukrainian children. “I remember finding it startling, yet humbling, the way that children were able to convey their feelings,” she says.
Kalamazoo Central High School art teacher Kellen Deau is organizing the local portion of the exhibit.